Gunnar Carlsson is one of the most renowned mathematicians in the world with his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and doctorate from Stanford. Over the past 35 years, Carlsson has taught at University of Chicago, University of California, Princeton University, and since 1991, Carlsson has been a professor of mathematics at Stanford University, where he has been a thought leader in a branch of mathematics called topology, the study of shape. In the theoretical sense, topology has been around since the 1700's, but Carlsson pioneered the applied use of topology to solve complex real world problems starting in the late 1990's.

In the early 2000's, this work led to $10M in research grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and DARPA to study the application of Topological Data Analysis (TDA) to problems of interest within the U.S. government. In 2008, based on the success of these efforts, Carlsson, along with two other Stanford mathematicians, co-founded Ayasdi. Gunnar is married, has 3 grown boys including two sons who are mathematicians, and lives in Palo Alto.

Using his fellow co-founder as an example, Ayasdi Co-Founder and Stanford Professor Gunnar Carlsson discusses what he sees in students who are interested in putting academic theory into action in the world

Ayasdi Co-Founders Gunnar Carlsson and Gurjeet Singh discuss building a company based on technology developed inside a university, in conversation with Floodgate Partner Ann Miura-Ko. With deep insights on data visualization, Carlsson and Singh talk about developing technologies and the process for evaluating high-impact applications.

Ayasdi Co-Founders Gunnar Carlsson and Gurjeet Singh discuss building a company based on technology developed inside a university, in conversation with Floodgate Partner Ann Miura-Ko. With deep insights on data visualization, Carlsson and Singh talk about developing technologies and the process for evaluating high-impact applications.